North Georgia Women Announce Schedule

DAHLONEGA, GA North Georgia head womens soccer coach Chris Adams has announced the 2010 schedule that features eight regular season home contests, and four road games against non-conference opponents.

"This year's schedule should provide us with the level of competition necessary to make a postseason run, head coach Chris Adams said. The non-conference games will be very challenging, but will prepare us for the conference tournament and a NCAA Division II at large bid if we play to our capability."

The Lady Saints are coming off their most successful season in school history, posting a 10-5-2 overall record, including a five-game winning streak in 2009 that spanned 26 days.

North Georgia upset their first top-5 program in school history last year, traveling to Columbus State and shocking the No. 3 Cougars in front of a capacity crowd. With the victory, the Lady Saints snapped a record 36 consecutive Peach Belt Conference wins by Columbus State.

"This is without question the deepest North Georgia team in program history, Adams said. Last year we were able to get by Columbus State and Armstrong Atlantic who were the leagues regular season and tournament champions, but we took a few injuries down the stretch, which left us a little short handed to end the season.

The Lady Saints will open the season with a road test, traveling to Lees-McRae on September 2, for a battle with the Bobcats in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The team will then return home for four straight games at the North Georgia Soccer Complex that features contests against Belmont Abbey, USC Aiken, Newberry, and Montevallo.

The longest road trip of the year will kickoff in October as the Lady Saints open play at Columbus States tournament games against Florida Tech and Florida Southern, before trips to Anderson and Georgia Southwestern cap a series of four road games in 12 days.

After returning from a trip to Americus, Ga., to tangle with the Hurricanes on October 12, the Lady Saints will go right back to work at home the following day, welcoming in-state rival GCSU to town for a primetime matchup.

The road will only get tougher from there with three straight Peach Belt Conference games against Armstrong Atlantic, Columbus State, and Flagler, before closing the league schedule on the road at UNC Pembroke.

The 2010 Peach Belt Conference womens soccer tournament will hold the quarterfinal round of the championship at the higher seeded team, before the semifinals and title game will take place at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga., November 5-7, 2010.

The Lady Saints return PBC Freshman of the Year Kelsey Martin at the forward position, while All-American Casey Smith will look to become a four-time Peach Belt All-Conference player during her senior campaign.

This team has terrific competition for each and every position which will allow us to stay healthier this year by using more players throughout the season, the eighth year head coach said of his squad. I expect this team to contend for the Peach Belt Conference Championship and receive an at large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament